San Jose quilt museum takes aim at gun violence

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Artist Jen Graham created ‘Trajectory Patterns’ to represent every mass shooting (four or more victims) in the U.S. in 2016. Each 1-inch panel represents a person who was killed or wounded in a specific shooting. The
finished piece, measuring 24 inches wide by 167 feet long, is part of the ‘Guns: Loaded Conversations’ exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and
Textiles, through July 15. (Photograph by Anne Gelhaus)

The gun control issue addressed by the current exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles is meant to inspire the kind of discussion that keeps people up at night.

“I wanted to insert more social and political issues into our exhibit calendar,” said Curator Amy DiPlacido. “A lot of works in this show would never get put on a bed.”

“Guns: Loaded Conversations” came about after the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016, which left 49 dead and 53 wounded.

“At the time, the politics of gun control were on everyone’s mind,” DiPlacido said. “The shooting happened without any solid (political) action afterward.”

On the artistic front, the international nonprofit Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) put together a traveling exhibit on gun violence and gun control in the wake of the Pulse shootings. Thirty of the works in “Loaded Conversations” are by SAQA artists; DiPlacido curated an additional 10 pieces for the San Jose stop on the exhibit’s three-year tour.

The artworks range from Claire Passmore’s “Where Do You Keep Yours?,” a childlike depiction of what can happen when gun owners leave their firearms where kids can find them, to Noelle Mason’s “Nothing Much Happened Today,” a cross-stitch rendering of a photo of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris during their shooting spree at Colombine High School in 1999.

While most of the works in the exhibit come down in favor of tighter gun control, DiPlacido said the museum’s goal was to act as a neutral presenter. To that end, visitors are asked to vote, using spent shell casings, on whether U.S. gun control laws should be tighter.

“So much in the news has been polarizing,” said the curator. “Art can cover the middle ground.”

The museum hosted a free community day around the exhibit on June 30, which included a panel discussion on gun control. “Loaded Conversations” closes July 15 with a discussion on the social and cultural significance of guns, led by Stanford University law Prof. John J. Donohue III.

“He’ll talk about the history of how we got to where we are with guns in our culture,” DiPlacido said. “And solutions—what someone can do to get involved.”

Besides engaging the community in the gun control debate, DiPlacido said the museum intends for the exhibit to attract visitors who may not normally gravitate toward the media involved.

“We really wanted to create a safe space for people to be educated on appreciating quilts and textiles, all around the gun debate,” she added. “Hopefully, people will come in and be surprised that it’s all textiles.

“They’ll go for the concept of the show and be surprised by the media.”

“Guns: Loaded Conversations” runs through July 15 at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, 520 S. First St. Museum hours are Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Admission is $6.50-$8.

“Bang! Bang! Discussing America’s Second Amendment,” led by Stanford law Prof. John J. Donohue, is set for July 15 at 3 p.m. at the museum. Admission is $15 for museum members and $25 non-members. For more information, visit https://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/events or call 408-971-0323.

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